Connected
by parodized
Summary: They are connected, not by a red string, but by something deeper.


Levi's hands grips the reigns tightly, steering the horse to its left and straight to the pack of titans that unexpectedly came out from the woods. He thinks, as he heads to the cannibalistic humanoids, weapons already in his hands that maybe the recon team from the east had been wiped out. He sighs, a heavy feeling settling deep inside his stomach –there goes another batch of letters to be sent to the deceased's families. Levi shakes his head, the blowing winds whipping his hair around, letting go of the thought. He has more pressing matters that needed to be dealt with immediately at hand. There are titans chasing after them, after his living soldiers, and Levi is determined to make their current body count stay the same.

He barks out commands at the remaining soldiers, ordering them to take a detour by the giant forest as he shoots a yellow flare into the air, hoping that whoever is left out there to receive the message directs it to Erwin as fast as possible.

The corporal studies his targets, three five-meter tall titans by his left, one fifteen-meter tall titans straight before him and a three-meter tall titan following behind, and quickly forms a battle strategy in his mind. He pulls the trigger and thin steel cables shoots from his gear to the farthest five-meter titan, using the retraction of the cables to his advantage, arching his back and letting the momentum carry him forward, slicing the other two titans' napes as he passes them. He avoids attacking the titan he latched himself onto and instead swings by and switches to the tallest titan.

Levi pulls the trigger again, using gas more than necessary to quicken his pace, and ends up cutting the nape faster. He jumps off and finishes the remaining titans in no time.

He lands on the back of his horse with grace and runs back to the forest to meet up with the soldiers he ordered to flee. The trip back to the formation was an uneventful one, much to his satisfaction, and Levi finds himself in the forest of those big-ass trees in a matter of minutes. He reaches the group moments later, dismounting his horse in the same place where his soldiers have left theirs, and shoots himself up to one of the branches in the trees.

"Sir," a soldier greets him with a salute. Levi nods in response and immediately goes over to the wounded. He offers them words of support and encouragement, thanking them for serving humanity and stays by the sides of those who fail to return to the walls alive. There was one soldier that he stayed relatively longer than the others, her copper hair already smeared with blood. He walks to her fragile form and crouches next to her, his hands kept still by his sides. He looses a fraction of his calm demeanour when he sees her state –blood dominated the left side of her body and he quickly turns to face the medic.

"We've done our best to minimize the bleeding, corporal. She's relatively better compared to her state before when she was brought here but we can't exactly say that she'll come through. Her comrades told us earlier that she was flung against a tree by a titan's hand when she stepped in to save one of her friends. The impact broke her ribs and pierced her lungs." Levi nodded, letting the information sink in.

He dismisses the soldier with a wave of his hand and looks back at the woman beside him.

He stays beside the damaged soldier, whose wounds are beyond the skills of their medics and holds her hands as he gave her soothing words on her final moments. He stares at her and examines her features, he realizes with a surprise that she was older than he was, he could tell as much by looking at her face. The older woman offers him a little smile, she stills for a moment as she coughs up blood, and tugs him forward until her lips barely grazes his ears and whispers:

"Corporal Levi," she tells him, her voice barely audible. The woman sucks in a breath and grunts but she pushed herself to speak despite the pain that shoots up from her lungs, "Corporal…"

"I'm here," he hushes her, grabbing the woman's frail hands in his. "What is it?"

"Did I –"Shh"– Was I helpful? D-did I … help humanity?" A tear rolls down her face and Levi wipes it away with his thumb.

"Yes," he tells her. "It's more than enough. You've done well soldier."

The woman smiles, her tears now falling uncontrollably from her eyes. Levi knows that she won't hold out any longer, it's only a few more minutes before she succumbs to her wounds and death consumes her. The woman tugs at him once more, prompting the corporal to look at her.

"Can I … ask –favor?" the words barely make it out of her mouth but Levi understands, he squeezes her hands, and nods his head in agreement. "For a soldier."

"Can you … yourself … my home. Find …daughter," the woman pauses, inhaling deeply in order to say the words completely, but the words never come out whole. She gurgles blood out from her mouth, red liquid flowing down her lips and stains whatever remains white in her collar. Her hold on him loosens and for a moment Levi fears that she'd passed away but disregards the thought when her hands firmly grips his arms.

"Tell her –Petra … I…"

Death came and the woman's hands slipped under his arms and falls limp beside her. Levi lowers his head and offers a small prayer on her behalf and lifts his fingers, shutting her eyelids closed before calling the attention of the medics to wrap her corpse. He stands up, still in the same spot, as he watches them wrap the cloth around her body and carry her to the pile of corpses by the junction of the branch and the tree.

The late soldier's finals words failed to leave her mouth and Levi is left to think what her words could be.

_Tell Petra?_

_Tell her what?_

_What do I tell?_

_I –what?_

He doesn't know how to finish the sentence, if he should say "She loves you" or "She's sorry" to the girl he'd be going to later this day as he tells her the horrible news about her mother's death. He mentally prepares himself for whatever reaction from her he'd have to endure.

_She'd probably cry, h_e thinks, _they always do._

* * *

Petra doesn't.

Instead she looks at him with a hard expression on her face and thanks Levi for telling her.

The corporal takes out a letter from his pocket and hands it to her, her hands reaching out to grab it, softs fingers brushing against his for a second and Levi suppresses the chills that ran through his skin. The slight tremble of her fingers fails to come unnoticed from his skilled eyes and he immediately reaches out to her, grabbing both her shoulders.

Petra snaps her head up to him, a mixture of fear and surprise in her eyes.

Levi mentally berates himself for acting on impulse. He quickly releases his grip on her, pulling his arms back to his sides and muttered a soft apology.

"Is everything wrong?" She asks him, taking a step closer.

The corporal scrunches his eyebrows, he had just broken the news about her mother, grabbed her without preamble (which should have been taken as sexual harassment –in a way) and _she_ asks _him_ if he was okay?

In all honesty, he isn't. He was nowhere near okay.

Going to different families to tell them about their loved one's death is never an okay thing to do. He hates it. He hates it as much as he hates titans because it means that he failed his duties as a ranking officer.

And he hates this particular scene with her because it's supposed to be Petra who's grieving and in anguish, not the one asking if he's okay.

He ignores the question and tells her what the old woman tried to tell him back in the woods. He pauses, still unsure of how to tell her something that never came out of the woman's mouth.

_Tell Petra I love her._

_Tell Petra I'm sorry._

As much as he tried to hide his internal struggle with his blank mask, Petra sees it and asks him again if he's okay.

"I'm fine." He lies through his teeth. He speaks up again before Petra asks, "Your mother asked me to deliver a message to you before she passed away."

The slight change in her expression tells Levi that she is also wearing a mask.

His minds brings him back again to his struggle of what to say to her. He somehow feels irate at the mother for dying before telling him fully what she meant for her daughter to hear. He has bigger problems than figuring out what to say to a soldier's daughter. He deeply regrets the thought a few seconds after.

_Tell Petra I love her._

_Tell Petra I'm sorry._

He doesn't know –so he settles in telling her both.

"I was with your mother during her final moments." He pauses, casting a sidelong glance at her direction. Petra wore that hard expression on her face again, and he thinks, maybe after he tells her the message, if the look on her face would change.

"She asked me to tell you that … she's sorry … and that she loves you." The words comes out slowly from his mouth and he looks back at the girl by the door, waiting for her face to change.

It doesn't.

Petra smiles at him though, a smile quite similar to what his subordinate has on her face. She says thank you to him once more before walking back to her home, not bothering to say goodbye. He turns around, his feet already moving against the cobblestone pavement when he hears her soft cries behind the door.

_It's was a mask alright._

* * *

He meets her three years after.

Levi stands at the bottom of the stage, his arms crossed as he studies the faces of the fresh graduates. He scowls in irritation, knowing most of these brats only seek comfort within the walls. His blue eyes narrow at those he suspects are guilty and scoffs, looking away, and grips his arms, welcoming the small pain as a scapegoat to his frustrations. A color of copper flashes his eyes and Levi finds himself instantly turning his head to its directions.

He sees her, the girl with the mask.

Petra stands in the middle of the field surrounded by her fellow colleagues, soldiers who were strong enough to stay behind. She looks straight ahead with a serious expression, watching the man at the stage deliver his speech.

"The Scouting Legion is the smallest division of the military but our power compensates for our number. I cannot guarantee you that you will live, I believe that you've all realized that before you decided to join. Two years from now, only half you will remain. Double the years and most of you, if not all, would already be dead. I am not here to strike fear but to force the horrible truth and burden that you will carry from now on as part of the Scouting Legion. But what I can assure you is that you already have served your cause for protecting humanity the moment you stayed behind.

"Can you die if you are ordered to?"

"I refuse to die!" Shout someone from the crowd.

Erwin close his eyes for a moment and lets a smile graze his lips. He looks back at the small crowd, soldiers standing at attention, and examines their faces.

"I commend you for offering your heart to humanity. This is a real salute!"

Petra feels a burning sensation behind her eyes as she watches the commander bring right fist over his chest and she could not, as much as she wishes, stop the tears that are now flowing down her face. She returns the gesture, along with her fellow colleagues, and hopes that she chose the right path. Memories of her mother flashes in her mind, her father that is now left alone at home, and this thoughts are enough to harden her resolve to fight for humanity.

Petra relishes in the moment, finding solace in the odd silence, and closes her eyes, imagining her mother standing before her with a proud smile plastered on her lovely face. Petra smiles in her mind and thinks,

_It's time for me to fight mother._

* * *

He talks to her again, grabbing her sleeve before she turns around to walk away.

"Petra," he says her name. He's not sure anymore though, it's been a few years and remembering a name is never his hobby, so he quickly adds, "Right?"

The girl pauses at his voice, her eyes widening at the familiar sound. Petra turns around and true enough, she sees him again, that boy who came to her house on that day when her mother died. Hazel eyes clash with metal blue and Petra feels the air being sucked out from her lungs. She quickly turns away, feeling a burning heat creep up on her cheeks.

His gaze on her was hard to forget and it was an expression she failed to interpret, she doesn't know what it was–surprise, confusion, worry, maybe a mix of all those?

Levi stares at her longer than he expected. He's not surprised to see her, he'd guessed as much that she'd follow her mother's steps to become a soldier but he still finds himself at a loss _that she's actually here._

"You," he finds his voice, "What are you doing here?"

"Excuse me?" Petra snaps her head to his direction, "What am I doing here?"

"You heard me."

"I am here to serve humanity by going outside the walls to fight titans."

He snorts at the cliché answer, "Of course, you offered your life for the greater good of humanity. What I'm asking is why you're here. I won't repeat myself soldier."

"I…" she looks down and suddenly, she feels uncomfortable under his stare. "I am here for my mother." She finally answers.

"Why?"

"Because …I feel like I have to. I feel like it's a way of carrying on her will to fight for what's good."

Levi thinks, as she shifts awkwardly, avoiding his gaze altogether that he's too close for comfort. He releases his hold on her sleeve and pulls away, leaving enough space between them. He tucks his hands inside the pockets of his pants, feeling the grim atmosphere weigh in his shoulders. He shouldn't have asked, he knew as much. Most people whose family had died more or less joins the military. He didn't expect her to be different.

The expression on her face falters for a second and Levi reminded himself that this girl before him has masks as well.

"Is that your reason for joining the Scouting Legion?" he asks her. His previous question was probably a bit hard for Petra to answer but the one she gave him was too right, too noble for someone who has seen what the cruelty of this world could bring. "Are you sure?"

"Honestly sir—"

"Corporal," He intercepts, "Corporal Levi."

Petra nods, "Honestly Corporal, no. I feel like this time, it's for my sake. My mother's time has passed and there's no magic that could reverse that fact. I'm doing this for me and my father's safety. I know it won't do much but at least I'm at peace knowing that I'm doing something and that's protecting the family I have left." She pauses, lowering her head, "I-I'm sorry, Corporal, I've spoken too much." She speaks in a hushed tone.

Levi listens until she finishes talking, satisfied with the answer he'd gotten. What he needs isn't a strong soldier but a soldier pushed to the edge by despair, who clings desperately to whatever anchors their humanity intact, because nothing motivates humans more than fear of what he does not know. And death is the best unknown that man knows. He moves his feet and passes her, unfazed when she abruptly turned around to his direction. He could only guess her face right now.

"Corporal?" He pauses in mid-stride when she calls him but makes no movement to face her. Levi stares straight ahead, waiting for her to continue. But no words came from Petra's mouth. He steps forward again but not before telling her something that would, in the near future, bring her the same fate as her mother.

"You'd make a nice addition to my squad."


End file.
